I WAS a question mark...now I am an exclamation point...

This is the second time I'm writing this entry...so I feel it's lost a lil luster already...

One more time...
2nd day of work today, and I got to learn more stuff. Got to build a harness for my navi system at my desk with wires, wire cutters, a soldering iron, power drill, all that. I felt like I was freakin MacGuyver or something, it was lots of fun. They(our managers) even took Joel(whose name I had orignally believed to be Joe) and me out to lunch at this nice lil Peruvian spot close by*(ooh, sidenote). We got to ride in some new Chrysler, I think it was the called the Pacifica, this high end SUV that sports one of our products. That ride is phat...individual seat heaters, power doors, GPS Navi system, DVD player, and a bunch of other cool gadgets and gizmos. I felt like a lil kid playing w/ a new toy. Anyway, I also got to meet some more people who just happened to be out "sick" the day after Memorial day...ahem. But they were really cool, just like everyone else, they go out of their way to make you feel welcome, I really think I'm gonna like it here...

After work, I went to Aaron's life group meeting, where they were discussing this book I read before, "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. We got into some good discussion about it, and one guy really challenged us to think about what we read and how we see things. It was really good because it sparked some good debate. And I think some great mental stimuli are debate and discussion. So often do people just take certain things in and not question them...but it's good to question it and really discuss it, it not only strengthens and affirms our own personal perspectives, but really just spurs the gears in our heads to churn, which, to me, is just healthy for our brains.

Man, that Memorial Day beach outting really got me into that "I just wanna chill all day at the beach...everyday" feeling. I don't know why I didn't take advantage of it earlier, but in my defense, it's been getting hotter LATELY, and before it was not-so-much. Plus, everyone else went on Monday, at it was like a big social thing and hangout. But who am I kidding...I used to go the beach ALL the time back in school, day AND night. So actually, there IS no excuse...I just messed up. Shucks.

*(ooh, sidenote) - Mini sidebar about when we went out to lunch. I was asking about what was good and one of the managers told me, so i was like okay cool...i'll order one of these...not too expensive, and it sounds pretty good. So after me, everyone else ordered something more expensive(I know, I should've taken advantage of free lunch more, but hey, I didn't wanna look like a punk, not yet at least...he he he). But when our food got to our table, everyone else's food looked soooooo good. I mean mine didn't look so bad, but they all had some nice seafood dishes, whilst I sat there eating my breaded beef strips. It was good, but theirs looked better!!! I hate that. Next time, I'm ordering last.

Appreciations of the day...
-discussion
-free lunch
-building stuff
-devil's advocates
-no traffic on the way home

"it's ok, it's alright, we're gonna win so fight fight fight!!!"

correction...my TRAPS are burnt, not my lats...what was I thinking? (Thanks Jon)

Saw this on another site...I don't think that's really me though...


Which Piercing are you?

hmmm....I wonder what OTHER kinds of piercings there are...

I am a singed longaniza(sp?)...

Dude, I KNEW IT!!! I felt the onset of sunburn, and I was right...my lats...errr....area btwn my shoulders and neck...they hurt like crazy. And freakin Chris, the punkass, slapped them. Man, it felt good.

There's a 1st time for everything...
So today I had my first official day at Alpine, training that is. The manager got sick so the training we were supposed to go through didn't pann out as planned, instead we had some mini-training and mostly got to know other people in our dept. There's two of us "assistants," Joe, an older gentlemen who previously worked for Verizon for like 7 years and now currently works at Disneyland working on pyrotechnic stuff, but only like on the weekends. Homeboy COMMUTES from freakin Aliso Viejo for a part-time job here...and for that there is one word that describes my reaction...WOAH. He's lookin for a place closer, and I hope and pray he finds one...soon. Anyway, the job seems pretty cool and I may even get to travel a bit. Obviously, I'm quite excited... We ended up getting out early, which was cool...and all week, 9-4:30...not too shabby.

Decided to go to Irvine afterward cuz I had to pick up some transcripts from school anyway. Met up w/ Chris and company for lunch and then he let me borrow his keys so I could chill at his pad til later. Didn't realize how hot it was til I got out of training...man oh man...TODAY would've been an even better day for the beach, but alas, 'twas Tuesday. So I went to Irvine, and visited some old friends in their respective places of employment on campus and got my transcripts and decided that I would grab a bite and get my car washed since I still had some time before heading to the game. I thuoght I'd only be at the carwash for about 20 min and I'd still have time grab a bite to eat. Well, by the way I'm telling this story, it's pretty easy to figure out that this didn't happen the way I had planned. Freakin spent over an HOUR there! Goodness, I swear man, they had like only one person soaping all the cars, so he had to keep stopping the conveyor so that he could catch up. And the dude that pulled my car up to the conveyor thingy, hit the side of the rail and popped out my hubcap! I pleaded w/ the manager to no avail about giving me my carwash for free...and I ended up not having anything to eat before the game. That's zero meals before expending tons of energy...I'm a genius. Sheesh.

Won the game tonight...didn't play so well, and the gym was hot. My knee is killing me...as my tendenitis has gotten worse as of late. But I think I just need to tend to it more, with ice maybe and keep working it out...which I STILL haven't done now for a while. And I JUST renewed my membership...just wonderful. I repeat...I'm a genius.

I've noticed lately, either I myself have been or my friends have been engaged in lengthy marriage conversations. Is there like some type of biological alarm clock that sets off around this age that gets us to just all of the sudden go into marriage gear? Hmmm...how peculiar...oh well.

Thought of the day...
People try to get sleep in one sitting...errr...laying. Other animals, such as dogs, prefer to take lots of mini-naps. I wonder if we did that, if we would be more productive. I don't know, cuz then one would see signs like, "We are open from 8AM-11AM, 2PM-4PM, and 6PM-8PM..." There would be like designated sleeping hours...while this thought is processing, I'm beginning to already see it's demise...people wouldn't just sleep at those times, they'd find something else to do...I don't know...now I'm all confused...didn't turn out to be much of thought at all...that's what I get for trying to be a genius...

"Don't just dream...live the dream"

I am a medium-well sirloin...

with the quickness...
I need to sleep soon...1st day of work comin up...WOOOHOOOO, so gotta make this quick.

I can feel the onset of sunburn...my skin feels all warm in certain areas...and my muscles are sore. Jon was asking me why muscles get sore after being at the beach all day, and I theorized that maybe it's because they're pretty much "cooked" throughout the day, and hence, the soreness...but boy oh boy am I gonna be hurtin tomorrow...shiyoooot.

What I originally thought to be a bust of a three-day weekend(well actually, I've kinda been on a weekend since January) ended up being quite the opposite. Saturday was the wedding, and yesterday, other than dropping off my uncle and company to day 2 of their chess tourney, I stayed home the entire day. And it seems that I wasn't alone...EVERYONE was online practically, and they too were bored, but we all seemed to be committed to our corresponding places of residences, so we couldn't go out, plus it had already started getting late. Some of us ended up playing on-line pictionary, which suprisingly, was one of THE funniest games I've played in a long time. I was laughing so hard, it was crazy. After some people logged off, I ended up playing on-line monopoly w/ Chris and his bro. That was fun too. Man, the benefits of having the internet...the boredom solution! It quelled my boredom long enough so that I got tired and went to bed.

I pretty much spent my ENTIRE Memorial Day at the beach w/ the '02 Irvine gang...it was A LOT of fun. Just chillin out in the nice hot almost summer sun, and wading in the antarctica cold water, and grillin burgers and hot dogs, and most of all, spending quality time w/ friends. A brief intermission was held from the beach by our little journey to Aloha Grill up on Main. Then it was back to our spot for a nice lil bonfire. The beach is great...I love it, and I can't wait to go more often.

"....And I'm spent!!!"

I am a morning after...

World of whackiness
Most peculiar thing happened to me earlier this morning. I heard a sound, which at first seemed unfamiliar. I had just had a really long day/night prior and was still pretty tired. I could especially feel it in my legs, like I danced all night or something. Anyway, it was about 9AM and I realized it was my alarm(had to take uncle and his friend to their Chess tourney again) and started reaching for it. As my eyes were adjusting to the ever-so-bright morning light that enters the east side of my room, I noticed something dangling from my extended hand. I started trippin out when I realized what it was and wondered how the heck it got there. I tried to remember everything I dreamt about, but no dice, I didn't have the foggiest idea of how it got there. Well, I do have some strange dreams anyway, but I wonder what I could have been dreaming about to make me take it off and then, just hold it...

Dum dum dum dum(sung to the tune of "Here comes the Bride")
Pretty much all off yesterday was spent celebrating Pia and Jerome's wedding. The ceremony started at 2:30, and things went off pretty much without a hitch. It was cool to see the Days' people again. One thing I took note about the wedding is that when I get married, I want to make it as personal as possible, so I hope that my musically inclined friends will want to participate in lieu of the traditional organist or something. One thing I kinda dream about is having a professional strings group play Canon in D, for the wedding procession, that would be tight. Anyway, after the wedding there was this supposedly big gap before the reception over at the Shilo Inn in Pomona. But that didn't end up being the case at all, we chilled outside of the church for close to 45 min which made it already almost 4:30, and a few people went to grab a snack and some last minute cards and stuff, so we didn't end up having too much time to "kill" at all. The reception was nothing short of fun...lots of drinks, lots of dancing, what more could one possibly ask for? ha ha ha. I would have to say the personal highlight of the evening was when SOMEONE requested the DJ to play Michael Jackson's "Beat it" and told him Jay Bermudez would do a special routine for the couple. Personal note, never tell friends I would dance to particular songs, even in jest... I didn't dance the whole song, as it was pretty embarassing, but I did part of it. I guess it was pretty funny, for people OTHER than me. That's what I get for wanting to be in the spotlight...sheesh. The DJ/Emcee was a lot better as the latter, he didn't have some of the songs that people were requesting. He had a good set, but like I said, he was missing some particulars. He was cool though, knew how to hype up the crowd. Another funny thing is how the older dudes reacted when the 80's music came on, they went absolutely nutziod. Cuz they're all like older peeps, in their 30's, most of them married, some with kids, and it was just cool to see. I wonder when me and my close friends are like that old, if we'll react the same way then they play all the old hip hop jams? Anyway, we danced and drank the night away, and then at about 12AM, we all called it a night, and bid the newlyweds adieu and let them "handle their biz-nass". Weddings are a lot of fun, and it seems that I will be frequenting such events since most of my friends are "in that stage" of their lives and a lot of them are already engaged and what not. I say, "Let the good times roll!"

I am approaching 2 weeks since I've last hit the gym...time to go back...maybe I'll start today...hmmm, maybe tomorrow? Shit...here I go again...goodbye working out.

"Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself."

I am a bottle of scream...

Ventilation
I don't like when people infringe upon my plans. Maybe it's selfish or whatever, but I just don't. I mean, yeah, I'm always down to help other people out...always. But when they just assume I will and disregard any prior engagements (and I'm not talking prior engagements like interupting my workout schedule or something menial like that, I'm talking like commitments like weddings or something) I may already have, needless to say it pisses me off. I just think that's really not cool, regardless of whether or not it's family, and what else are they gonna do, and all that. I mean, hello...I plan things ahead for a reason... And I don't like it when I have a prior engagement and I'm made off to seem like the bad guy cuz I don't wanna help out. It's one of those passing judgement things that to me is comparable to running one's fingernails accross the blackboard. I just wish that people didn't assume things all the time and rather asked and plan further ahead of time, that's all. Is that too much to ask?

Some things I learned today:
"Being taken into account" or "heard" is far more important than the answer itself. One of the things that make people feel good is knowing they're being heard or listened to. They are not necessarily always looking for a certain answer...just knowing that they are being heard is all that matters.

Even though you have accepted some things as they are, and perhaps forever will be, it doesn't mean it's gonna stop hurting. Often times, emotion and logic do not go hand in hand. It's like if I was sick. I accept that I am sick and that I need to take medicine...but that doesn't change the fact that the medicine is gonna taste like crap...bad analogy, but my brain is only semi-functional right now.

First impressions are often times wrong impressions. So those people that play big on first impressions usually miss out cuz they form their opinion upon first glance, so to speak. I think people's first impression of me is almost always misleading. It's like skimming over something instead of really reading it. One gets a clearer picture when after examining the words more closely, figuratively speaking of course.

Extra time
I had lunch w/ Janelle today. Johnny Rockets @ Beverly Center...yum yum yum. It was so good seeing her, as it always is. And we caught up, as usual, and laughed and just enjoyed each others' company. It's a good feeling when someone takes a moment out of their extreme busy schedule to spend quality time w/ you. Before I had lunch w/ the best friend, I had to go shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond for a wedding gift for my friends Pia and Jerome, who are getting married this saturday(man, ANOTHER wedding...sheesh). Anyway, I was down there forever trying to pick out something good, and I think I did with my purchase of an 8-piece festival glass punchbowl set. I think it looked pretty cool. Anyway, I'm breaking off on a tangent here, I wanted to say something about the store itself...hmmm...oh yeah, so the layout of the store is so weird. It doesn't have one of those circular, or "squarular"(WTF?) type layouts most stores have.. And by "squarular," I mean like if I went to the left and walked all the way towards the end of the store, and kept walking, I'd eventually be led back to the front of the store, where I came from. Such stores, like Target, Best Buy, you can take different directions to get right back to the entrance/exit of the store. Not THIS store....there was only the entrance, and the store snaked its way all the way back...and dead ended right there. It was crazy, I was carrying that heavy ass punch bowl thingy and kept walking thinking I'd eventually be led to the cashiers that were by the entrance. Boy oh boy was I wrong...I ran into the dead end, twice. How? Don't ask, I'm a confused mind. Anyway, some worker girl sees me and asks if I needed help looking for something, and I told her, sheepishly, "yeah, the cashiers." And she laughed and told me it happened all the time. The layout of their store was weird because it was at the bottom of the mall. So back to my point...squarular is good, snaking to dead ends...bad...it'll just cause chaos.

"Fasten your seatbelts Dorothy, cuz Kansas is going bye-bye."

I am a bead of sweat, sitting on my forehead...

Mercury Rising
Another night sitting at my computer in my 69 degree home in Los Angeles. Another helicopter is hovering about so close that I can practically feel the vibrations from rotors turning it's blades. It was pretty danged hot today, and thus, my window is open so that some of the cool night breeze can meander its way into my quarters. The dog next door is barking, as usual. It's sooooooooo annoying, sometimes I wanna grab my TV table and throw it at him, so he'll shut up, but I hold back. I swear, one of these days a freakin burlgar is gonna be crawling around somewhere nearby and the dog will be barking trying to warn me, and I'll never be the wiser, cuz I hate that lil fucker.

Fooled ya
I find it interesting when people misinterpret you...well misinterpret's the wrong word, not exactly the word I want...but it'll have to do for now. Anyway, I was at Samuel French today, helping V look for a serio-comic monologue for his audition coming up this saturday. So there I am, sitting in a chair, looking through some monologue book when this big dude sits next to me, apparently doing the same thing(He has a bunch of monologue books in his hand) and asks me if I'm looking for a monologue too. So I decide, eh, I'm too lazy to explain that I'm only helping my friend out, so I just say yes. And he asks, and I tell him I'm looking for a comedic one, and he says he is too. So he shows me one, apparently it's pretty damn funny cuz he's laughing all loud, and he tells me to read it. Ironically, it's about a guy getting bald and trying out all the bald treatments out there and stuff...and it was in fact funny...just even funnier that I was reading it, I felt like I totally could've been that guy! ha ha ha. Anyway, so he finds his monologue and leaves and so me and V were just jokin around afterward about how it was funny that he probably thought I was an aspiring actor too...man misleading people is pretty fun. I wonder how far I could BS people into thinking I was actually well versed in certain fields...

Blast from the past
I swear, this week, and part of last week, has been all about seeing people I used to hang out with, talked to back in college, and even dated. It's like I was opening old pages from the book of my life and just seeing people again, whom in all honesty, I didn't really see myself running into in the future. Anyway, upon retrospect(Ahh, the value of hindsight), it was really great to see these people again. Some, I probably just saw this one time and probably will not see again for quite some time, others, I believe I could possibly start seeing a lot more of again, but in either case, it was great having the chance to catch up and see how much our lives have changed, or in my case, NOT changed, in the past few years. It's funny, sometimes I think that when I see people I haven't seen for a while, that we'd be completely different people, that there has been so much distance that we'd find it hard to find something to talk about. I found out it was the exact opposite, we had SO MUCH to talk about, and even moreso BECAUSE of the time lapse. And it's cool to know that they really are inquiring about you because they remember things still, like your family, old roomies, etc. Nothing like a moment of reminiscing to make you feel like you're living back in the day, even if for only a brief moment in time...

Summa Summa Summatime...
Two words to describe the weather earlier...AFRICA HOT!!! Man oh man it was hot today...which means spring is drawing to a close and summer is ready to start. Which means, beach time!!! I can't wait. I can't wait for the days when all I'll be blogging about is africa hot weather and people longing to go to the beach but don't go, and planning summer trips to Vegas, Hawaii, camping...etc. Finding that old copy of Wil Smith's Summertime just so you can play it in your car while driving around. Wanting popsicles, or ice-cold lemonade. Waterfights. Man, what an exciting season summer is. It's funny cuz even though I work now...well, now right NOW, but like last year, I was working full-time, but we still had summer vacations and stuff. I think it has been so ingrained into my head from the 17 years of school I went through that no summer is complete w/o some kind of trip.

Thank goodness for...
-Airconditioning
-good food
-Old friends revisited
-chance encounters

"Laughter, it is the echo of pure enjoyment."

Another thing I miss about Irvine...it's so much cooler than it is in LA, esp. during the summer. Anyway, today was a day when I didn't really do much, yet I still felt so productive. Had an early game tonight and afterwards, I came home to watch the season finale of Smallville(all I have to say about that is DANGIT), cleaned my room, folded some laundry, and caught up w/ some friends with whom I haven't had the chance to speak to in a long time. Man, some of my friends are doing really awesome things, and I'm so proud of them. It's good to hear that things are going well and they never cease to impress me, the ideas they have about the future, the things they wanna set up, it's really amazing. But one thing remained constant throughout my catch-up talks...we are, in fact, getting older. He he he, but the good thing is that we've come to accept things as they change and try to learn more and more as we continue to grow. Strange to think that I won't be having many more of these late nights...if everything goes well with the background check...then by this time next week, I should be fast asleep...boy oh boy, I just can't wait(can you sense the sarcasm?)...

I am the needle in the haystack...without the haystack.

Tada!
Praise the Lord, I found my jacket yesterday! It was smushed underneath the back seat of the van, which was folded over it. Had I not been looking for something else in the van at that time, I would have been ever more frustrated, because yesterday, I was totally determined to find it. And lo and behold, I did...odd. I am so relieved...I swear I thought I was going crazy at one point yesterday...I felt like i was losing everything. Chris and I were talking about how it's crazy how we lose some things that seem so hard to lose...such as pants. How does one lose pants? Yet, it happens. So for the meantime, I have found some peace of mind...til I realize I need to find something else I think I have lost.

PEE!!!! NOW!!!!
So this morning was my pre-employment drug screening for Alpine. It was interesting enough, I only had to pee in a cup. But it was kinda weird, cuz the girl was just there and told me to go pee in the cup, do not flush, and come back out. It's rather difficult to pee on command...I kept thinking the whole time about how there were two people right outside that door, waiting to look at and analyze my pee...blech. Anyway, it took me a lil while, and for a second there, I thought I wasn't gonna be able to pee up to the line that the girl drew. Luckily, I had just enough...I wonder what happens when you don't produce enough? Do you have to wait there til you can pee more? Or do they test you some other way? Hmmm...curious...

Today, I am supposed to go to Carson avel la familia, but mom and pop aren't home yet. Jos and London are watching Lilo and Stitch and Jos is doing dips...she's getting buff man. Speaking of which, I need to go to the gym again...it's been about a week now I think...at least I've been playing basketball...even it's just shooting around.

Today's quote of the day, compliment of the immortal wisdom of Jos

"You know you're sick when you're boogers are green."

I am a personal mini-alarm clock...

Man, lots of thoughts, lots of thoughts, where do I begin...

This weekend consisted of late-nights and not much sleep. Last night was Nammie's b-day/grad party and it was a lot of fun. Didn't get home til real late/early...and fell asleep waiting for V to get back. Then had to wake him up like an hour after he came in and he was on his way...to get some flowers for his ma...and so was I...back to bed, at least for another few hours before my respective Sunday started. My day, all in all, did not really consist of very much activity...church in the morning, accompanied by a stop to OSH to pick up some garden goods for the parentals...which was followed by hours of sitting around at home...til I up and left for a bit...of which I will delve into further detail shortly...

Spontaneity
Another thing that sucks about living back @ home w/ the parentals, is that doing the totally spontaneous thang is a lil tough. And I don't really think the "toughness" comes from the fact that the parentals are physically present. I think that one of the difficulties lies in the lack of a roomate, or roomates, or partners in crime, with which to take on spontaneity. Plus, at this stage in life, most of the so-called "partners dadadaada" are members of the working class and truly spontaneous activities are a rarity. Seldom, there are chance occurences, but only seldom. Being only tied down by ONE of these parameters(lack of personel), I was able to partake on a spontaneous journey...again, which will be illustrated more clearly soon...but yeah, so it's hard to be spontaneous as you get older and more and more parameters appear...i.e marriage, children, etc. Sheesh, as if it wasn't hard enough already...where does the time go?

Flyin Solo
Like I said, I was sitting around at home for a long long time today before I decided to step out again..rather late. I was talking to V earlier about how sometimes we're so bored out of our minds and still do nothing to remedy the situation due to the mere fact that we are too lazy to assert ourselves and do something about it. Well earlier, I was in said state of boredom and I decided to be assertive, reach out, open the door, and take it upon myself to step forward and embark upon the wings of adventure. Venturing out alone as an observer of the world, so to speak, is quite an interesting thing. Walking around just watching people...how they interact with one another, ones that know each other, i.e. friends, couples, families, etc. and ones that don't know each other, i.e. strangers bumping into one another, customers being served, people asking for help, etc. But probably the most interesting people observation of all, well at least to me, was how they observed me, the watcher. What was going through their minds as they shot those glances towards me, as I gave a semi-smile and the mini-bow of the head to acknowledge their presence? Who did they think I was? "Hmmm...I wonder who he's waiting for?" "Maybe he got stood up?" "Maybe he's a crazy guy?" I wonder wonder wonder...but there were times I think I was able to draw a conclusion from facial expression or action such as, "What book does he have in his hand?(as they attempt to steal a glance at my copy of Tolkien's Silmarilion)" I find it kinda crazy to think that both parties, me, the observer, and them, the observees, were actually doing the same thing...and the shoe was, in fact, on the other foot at the same time...a double edged sword, if you will. But I guess that has to be one of the endearing qualities we have that helps make the world go round...CURIOUSITY. Another thing that I enjoyed tonight was driving around LA @ around 2AM, when there are so few cars on the road you can actually feel the difference in the air. No VOx, NOx, and CFC's saturating the air. Rather, it is clear, and crisp...ALMOST as it is the morning after a storm passes through. I felt so calm as I cruised down the streets wondering how long this "calm" actually lasts before everyone starts to get up and vehicles once again congest this momentarily serene setting. Though throughout the duration of this adventure, I was completely and utterly alone...so to speak...upon retrospect, I would have to say that my outting bore some fruit...even though useful only to me. But it was good to get out....

Love and time
A lot of my friends and some of my friends' friends...the coupled off ones, are either getting married pretty soon or already have been married within the past year and a half or so. Some have been together for a long long long time, and some, not so much. It's so interesting that as we get deeper into the game(and by that I mean as we get older), the timeframe that one needs to be with someone before they actually know they are "the one" decreases. Why? Because most of the young people I know that were recently married or about to be married(barring the child-factor in some cases) have been together for quite some time...8 years, 5 years, etc. But the older ones...some I've heard haven't even been together for 2 years and in some cases, only 1. Or at least they're talking about it already. So I guess it's because as you get older, and more experienced, you start to figure out what you want in a prospective life-partner and thus need less time as time inevitably advances on and on. Man, if I stick to that theory, then it'll only be a few weeks for me. cuz I probably won't find her til I'm like 40...ha ha ha(this is where "back-ups" come in REAL handy).
I hope it's not THAT long...

On a side note...
Ever since I saw Matrix:Reloaded, I've been really getting into reading forums and spoiler sites and stuff like that, to get a better understanding of the pictures and concepts as a whole, and I would have to say that I have a better understanding of the events and happenings of the 2 films thus far. I guess you really gotta observe and listen...maybe a second time would bring things to an even higher level of clarity...oh well...this is the geek in me speaking. Well, actually, the geek in me is ALWAYS speaking...Nevertheless, I found another teaser-trailer for Matrix:Revolutions...which kinda clarifies SOME questions that people may have about what happened in Reloaded...

Appreciations for the day...
-Alone time
-Friendly gestures
-Curious minds
-Observation
-Moments of "clarity"
-Fresh Air
-Remembering everything you wanted to write about...

If my brain were a Windows platform, I just overloaded and am now crashing...

"Knowledge, never take it for granted, for it is the gateway to all doors."

I am a blister about to pop...

Out of the ordinary...
I was up late again last night, but I was totally exhausted. Why? Because it wasn't my usual Friday night out w/ the boys. Instead of going out to some club or some bar, we decided to play ball w/ a couple of V's buddies at around 11-ish. We ended up playing til 2AM...needless to say I was damn tired, PLUS we had to go all the way back to Cerritos afterwards cuz V forgot his shoes for the wedding he was going to the next morning. Not the normal Friday night thang, but it was good, for a few reasons: one being that we all saved on drinks, cover, etc. Another being that we got some extra cardio in our daily routine and lastly, just got to chill.

Tonight, it's back to the regular weekend schedule...me and the guys are gonna go to Nam and Mimi's grad/b-day dinner/partay over at Gotham Hall...where I had my b-day a few months back. Ha ha ha, oddly enough Nammie was just as drunk as I was that night...we always seem to get totally hammered everytime we party together. Last year, it was vegas and she and I arrived much earlier than everyone else, and by the time everyone else got there, we had already gone through half a bottle of bacardi and went sake bombing downstairs(I think we stayed at Bally's)...those were fun times...and just as I did this year, I yakked on my b-day last year...but that time it was out on the strip, and instead of my friends taking pictures, it was tourists...how memorable...

So now I have to kill about 5 1/2 hours before the party and I think I'm a lil too tired to work out, considering the workout I already got not even 24 hours ago...what shall I what shall I what shall I do? Maybe I'll go to the mall and just look at and try on things I wish I had enough money to buy but can't...sheesh being jobless and not getting enough from EDD sucks major donkey doo doo. Speaking of jobless(goodness, what a magnificent segue I set up for myself here), I got the position w/ Alpine as the evaluation engineer. The HR Rep called me yesterday, which is a few days earlier than I had expected, and told me that she had already mailed me the offer letter and I just need to look it over and then sign it and stuff. I'd still have to go through all the extensive background checking(which I hope that whole license suspension crapola doesn't interfere with...and I am totally crossing my fingers and praying about that) but thus far, I have it!!! I'm so excited...I'll actually be doing engineering stuff again. Over the past couple months I have really felt stagnated as far as my career path and jobskills were concerned, but now I get to sharpen those skills that I feel have somewhat dulled since the layoff. And it's only part-time, so not the ideal position I want to be in later on, becuase of the lack of benefits and time off and all that jazz...but at this point in my life, I think it's good. I'll be working, I'll be getting engineering experience, doing something pretty interesting, POSSIBLY becoming a full time engineer, and it gives me the freedom (timewise) I need to take care of pop and London. God works in mysterious ways, but those mysterious ways work for me.

Shoot, maybe I'll just keep writing to waste those 5 + hours...ha ha ha

"Interesting how what seems to be most important in life sometimes don't really matter at all"

I am a moment of silence...

... ... ... ...

The World Champion Lakers
2000-2002

It was a great run...and to you we owe many moments of happiness and now, we shed our tears for you...

I am grumpy's old dwarf hat...

Damn these super late nights and waking up super early days are not workin for me. I wanted to sleep in, but I couldn't, cuz I had to take pop to the dentist at 8:30 this morning. Sometimes, I forget that I can't be up til 4 or 5AM because I have these errands to do all the time, so I need to find a way to knock myself out around 1 or 2 or something like that.

Come on down!
I was watching that game show, The Price is Right this morning, and I was laughing how this one girl kept getting screwed by the person next to her...cuz everytime it was time to bid, she'd make a bid and the dude, on her left would beat her. EVERYTIME! It was soooo, sad... For example, on a set of crystal she bid like 550 or something and then the next person would bid 551...thus pretty much making her bid null and void. It really sucked because the person next to her always won... Theoretically speaking, some one could make a bid for say, 300 for some kind of tv, and the next 301, and then, 302, essentially everyone getting jacked except for the last person, who would naturally win. They should come up w/ a rule against that. Cuz if not, then I'm gonna go on that show and just bid a dollar over someone everytime...he he he....now I wanna go...damn

Reload...ed
I saw Matrix Reloaded last night and I really liked it...I have some comments and theories, but I'll wait til I actually have live people to debate those issues with, but yeah, I can't freakin wait til Nov 4th, for Revolutions to come out, good thing too, cuz I would've torn my hair(wait...I don't have any hair...shit...well torn something then) out. Good job wachoski bros...man, that whole Matrix concept, since the first one, is such a brilliant concept. Well it is to me, at least. I like the connection between our real world and the world of the matrix, kinda one of those types of movies that gets our mental gears movin. I've been reading Matrix Forums all morning/day and formulating theories as to what happened, what's gonna happen and all that...reading so much that I didn't even go play basketball today...shiyiiiiites, I'm a geek. I know I'm gonna watch it again...

Been a lazy day today...I started this blog sometime this morning and now it's almost sometime this evening...

"Strength lies in the heart, not in the hands"

I am a race-horse right after the Kentucky Derby...or one of those big races for that Triple Crown thang...

I was laying in bed for over an hour...and I can't sleep...so I write...

Close but no cigars...
The Lakers lost...BARELY tonight, and to top it off...WE lost...BARELY too. I hate that...a double dose of disappointment. And Jenn seems to be jumpin on people's sites rubbin it in, but we'll see who gets the last laugh. I actually got to play ball 2x today, once this mornin w/ V and at the game...freakin crapola I'm tired. But good tired, is there such thing? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm tired, because I was exercising...yeah...

New bat time AND day...same bat channel
I was reading up on some Smallville news...the show I love the 2nd most next to Friends, and I found out they're moving it to Wednesdays at 8PM instead of Tuesdays at 9. If I'm still playin in that Seyo league w/ Chris, that'll be good, cuz no more games on the day of Smallville, unless they freakin move it to Wednesday too, but I'm more of an optimist, so I don't think that'll happen. But it's not next season yet, and the season finale is next week, and we have a game, dangit. I would just not go, but I love playing and it's also exercise...cardio, that I don't usually get in my normal workouts. Anyway, I can't wait for the seasonal DVD's for Smallville to get released...all the collections on DVD I MUST have and WILL have are: Friends seasons 1-10, Smallville seasons 1-whatever it may go to, I'm thinking 5 being that once college is overs with, they'll end the series...maybe they'll NEVER get out of college...he he he, anyway, moving on...Lord of the Rings trilogy, Matrix trilogy, all the X-men they come out w/, the Spidermans, and of course, Robotech, the Mackross Saga...Hmm, I wonder if I left anything out...I probably did...but those are the majors I think.

Sneak Peak
Yay, I'm gonna watch Reloaded tomorrow...errr...today...er....tonight at 10:15! At the Edwards theatre parkplace...over by Sports Chalet...crazy, I'm so excited. I had previously planned to watch it w/ Jon jon and Ai, but they're both going tomorrow...so yay! I'm so so so so excited to see this movie, and even more, we get to see how it all ends in November, which is when Revolutions is coming out. And then, right after that...LOTR comes out...HELL yeah...

No more butts...OR oreos
It has been quite a while since I've actually quit quit smoking...I don't even know how long, but check this out, my friend Dee wrote this thing on smoking...pretty informative...but funny, I don't feel much of a change, except for that 2 week-long stint when I got all hella sick and stuff... I guess quitting is quite important. I also found out some rather interesting news concerning Oreo cookies yesterday as well. I was listening to the radio, I forget which station, but they were talking about how Nabisco is being sued by some attorney about stopping to sell Oreo cookies to children, or at least include some kind of label about this one ingredient that's in it: It's called trans fat, or poly-saturated vegetable oil...something along those lines. This is the chemical or whatever that makes it possible for oreos to be on the shelf for like a gazillion and a half years...so I guess it'd be in other items too...but they were just specifically talking about Oreos at this time. Anyway, supposedly this stuff is really horrible for a person's health and also the case is supposedly stronger than the case that dealt with the Tobacco company and the harmful effects of nicoting and stuff. Pretty crazy, and a few thoughts entered my mind. 1) That sucks, OREOS? Man, but oreos were soooooo good 2) If this stuff is so bad for people, why just stop selling it to children, shouldn't they just get rid of that ingredient altogether? And how is it JUST bad for children and not for adults...is it because adults don't eat oreos as often? Or is it because our bodies develop this kind of immunity as our body matures? and 3) OREOS? that just sucks...I loved oreos when I was a kid. ha ha ha, I'd do a little research on the topic but I guess it'll have to wait...

Sheesh, I need to get some sleep...I gotta pick up my friend from LAX tomorrow...I think I should pursue a job as an airport shuttle guy...I feel like one of those vegas cab drivers, I know all the backroads and stuff, he he he, thereby avoiding all that annoying traffic...until you get into the terminals that is...cuz that's just unavoidable.

Thumbs up to...
-Unexpected Visits
-Good japanese food(Matsu)
-Exercise
-breaks

Thumbs down to
-Traffic
-insomnia
-when hour nose whistles when you breathe out of it
-my stupid messed up finger(not my thumb)...which by the way, is weird, you call the other ones fingers, they even have names, there's the pointer, or index finger, the middle finger, aka the bird, the ring finger, and the pinky finger...but not the thumb, yuo don't call it the thumb finger, or the big finger, like you do the big toe...why? Hmmm...

"Care not for material posessions, you can't take them with you..."

the Fizzer worm is a Virus, by the way...thanks for the heads up to my bro...

Don't let it get ya!

I am one of those tiny 8 oz bottles of Crystal Geyser...half full...


You are Storm!

You are very strong and very protective of those
you love. You are in tune with nature and are
very concerned with justice and humanity.
Unfortunately, certain apprehensions and fears
are very hard for you to overcome, and can
often inhibit you when most need to be strong.


Which X-Men character are you most like?
brought to you by Quizilla

he he he, who would've thunk...well not ME, at least...I always figured I'd be more like Gambit...or...SPIDERMAN!!! hell yeah...that would be cool.

A new week...
Anyway, my interview at ////Apline went really well today, at least in my opinion it did. I interviewed w/ four people: Christine the HR lady; Brent the Senior Evaluation Engineer; Takahashi aka "Tak" the Senior Dept Engineer; and Dane, the Senior R&D person, in that order. The actual position is a part-time one; an evaluation engineering assistent. The particular job duties would consist of road testing the navigation systems in various vehicles, namely, Honda, Acura, Mercedes, and get this...Jaguar. So it sounds kinda interesting, lots of hands on work and, if I got the position, I would get to drive some phatty rides. So needless to say, I'm kinda hyped to hear from them next week. I got a lot of good feedback and I will hear from them next week. Since there's a lot of driving involved I'm sure they're gonna check my driving background...I hope all that stupid crap I went through w/ my ticket is all cleared up by now and that it won't cause any problems. If so, I'm gonna go postal up in this mug...

I seem to have lost my black jacket that Janelle gave me for Christmas like a year and a half ago...FREAKIN 'A, I'm so annoyed...annoyed by the fact that I freakin seem to always misplace my crap, and annoyed by the fact, even moreso, that I can't remember where I could have possibly left it at...not a clue. I hate that...and hate's a strong word...but I do.

The rumormill...
First of all I could've sworn that I wrote about this already, but it seems like I haven't...freakin Deja Vu. Anyway, I heard on the news sometime last week, not sure when, that senate or congress or whatever the heck it is that passes bills...was attempting to pass a bill to move last call(for alcohol) up an hour...to one o'clock, well at least as far as the state of CA is concerned. Thinking that it would reduce the amount of alcohol in ones body by the end of the evening, and give them an hour to sober up before hitting the road, it'll be safer. I'm not so sure about that though, I have reservations about it, for lots of reasons, one of which people just drinking more before that actual call time hits. But I guess I can see the reasoning behind it, anyway, that's what I heard...we'll just have to see what happens.

Thumbs up to...
-The Anaheim Mighty Ducks, call me a bandwagoner or whatever(still a Kings fan though..LA Kings that is), but they're dope!
-The sore feeling you get after working out
-late night snacks w/ one of your best friends
-Norton Anti-Virus 2003
-When someone follows your example

Thumbs down to...
-The freakin Fizzer worm
-Communication barriers
-malicious intent
-people who try to bring other people down
-the big ass spider I couldn't kill the other day cuz it was on the ceiling so I vacuumed it(I hope it died in there)

"It is in the darkest of hours when hearts shine most brilliantly."

I am the humdrum wind rustling the leaves in the dead of night...

The fourth dimension...
What a strange weekend. With the exception cooking lunch for the moms(mom, jos, and cousin), working out once, playing lots and lots of video games, and some various errands, it was full of nothing but boringness. And on top of that, I just had an eerie feeling about the whole weekend. Seriously, some strange things have happened this weekend... On Friday when I took V to the airport, I swear there were like no cars out and about that day, and this was at like 6 PMish. Dude, that's high time for traffic, especially w/ the holiday weekend and all. But no one...it seemed like everyone disappeared or something...and what's even weirder is that my sister confirmed it. She was like, is it just me or does there seem to be no one around today? BOOM!!!! That was so weird. And THEN, tonight or this morning, whatever, I saw like 3 flashes of light when I was exiting off of the 405N...it was so weird, cuz I even slowed down to see where the source could've been coming from, but there was none to be found. And when I was driving back home w/ mom, I got another weird feeling. Hmm...maybe I'm developing some telekinetic/psychic powers that have lain dormant over the past 25 years and I have only barely tapped my potential? But probably not. I wonder how long this strange aura will last...

Pet peeves...
Here's a new one...well new to me at least. So I went shopping w/ mom the other day and decided to stay in the car while she shopped. So I saw one of those lil newspaper machines, checked the ashtray in the car and saw I had 50 cents...cool, I thought. I'll go get myself a paper and read some news and some laker news(who won BOTH games this weekend BTW, hell yeah). So I insert the coins and grab the top paper and walk back to my car. After I read some news on the Iraq crisis, some new nuclear arms development issues, and oil issues, i decided to read up on my lakers...Hmmm...here's section A, B, C some ads, inserts, ...E, F...wait a minute..where's D? So I go through it again...STILL NO D!!!! Some mofo took it out! just the SPORTS PAGE!!! I was like WTF?!?!? Big time kill joy man, I couldn't believe it...I was totally seething! Why would someone do that? I mean, yeah, it was probably partly my fault(as it always somehow seems to be) that I didn't check..but really, how many people actually check to see whether or not every section of the paper is there before they pick it up and pay for it? I'd say not very many. and I think it just sucks that people out there would do such a thing...it's like pissing on the toilet seat and not wiping after at a public restroom...so that the next person has to deal w/ it...well maybe not thaaaaaaaaat bad, but still, it's just plain mean. But that's how it is, I guess, good people and bad people are all placed on this same sphere called earth, the good people trying to be happy, and the bad, trying to take that away from them. Boo to all the haters out there in the world...Hrrrrrrrrrrmph!!!

I have an interview today, at 1PM...how exciting...did I mention that already? I don't think so...see what I mean, just a weird weird weekend...time to make an attempt at getting some rest...

"One must be willing to take the first step in order to move forward."

It's rather impossible to sleep in when there's a lil 2 1/2 year old trying to feed you her imaginary pasta and showing me all the things in my own room, ha ha ha. So me and London had like a 15 minute conversation this morning. Here's what we talked about:

-3 days of the week, Monday, Tuesday and "Sevenday?"
-her dad's a pig because he ate all her candy
-We(She and I) are going to take pop to the dentist today
-The "owie" on my head is gone because it don't hurt anymore
-It's her job to play with me
-She saw X2 at the mofie theater and watched lady deathstrike
-Lady Deathstrike is dangerous because she has knives on her hands
-She also wanted to know why I was wearing a little shirt, aka my wifebeater

Conversations w/ lil children...they can be so uplifting...

I am a tall(actually, in my case short) hazelnut mocha...

Bubble Gum cleaner?
I've never really thought about it much, until today that is, when I was using the bathroom while pop was at the doctor, but why do public restrooms smell like that bubblegum flavor they have for toothpaste and stuff?(Woah, was that a long sentence or what?) Anyway, seriously, it smells like freakin bubblegum in there, which after some thought led me to these two follow-up questions. Now is it the cleaner that just coincidentally happens to have that fragrance a la bubblegum? Or...do they spray a bubblegum scent in there to MASK the gross-yucky bathroom odors? Maybe bubblegum scent is like the strongest combatant to the stench of the restroom...I guess there's actually more than just two follow-up questions..I think maybe I have just opened pandora's box, YIKES!

Mental Fog
Like I mentioned earlier, I took pop to the doctor this morning, for a check-up and we were there for only like 15 minutes before Dr. Cohen let him go. It's a good sign when the doctor doesn't have anything to say to us about pop, it means things are good...well, inasmuch as that there's no new complications to deal with. I mean I think there is plenty to handle as it is, with his shoulder and continuing aphasia/apraxia. I don't mention it much, not even to my close friends really, but it gets pretty hard for me sometimes. Not very often, but I think it hits me when I'm just sitting alone w/ my thoughts more than when something specific happens. And apparently, this is one of those times. This is one of the big negatories to having trouble sleeping. I mean, things are just a lot different than they were a year ago. And now, there's just so much frustration, denial, and I don't even know how else to explain it. It sucks because there's lil things that just hit me and drive me up the wall, things like being called by my name. And I hate it because I know these lil things shouldn't even be bothering me and that I need to be strong and all that, and I try to be, I really do. I pray to God every night for the strength, patience, love, and understanding, to see my family through this, carry them through if that's how it's supposed to go. But I think even the strongest of people(a company I find myself completely removed from), falter sometimes. It's really easy to think that "There's a reason for everything," and "This is all a part of a bigger plan," when things are going well, but THESE are the times I need to really remember those words and really hold on tight to my foundations. Funny, I didn't think I'd be venting like this...this is more of a pen-journal type entry, but my thoughts just flow more freely when I can write as fast as I'm thinking, well, not-so-much, but a lot faster than I can pencil it in...deep breath.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Appreciations of the day...
-Coffee
-Hooters Hotwings
-Hooters Girls
-Expression
-Tests

"The only way to pass any test is to take the test."

I am a Troy Glaus rally monkey....again?

What's in a song?
I was driving home from our basketball game earlier this evening and listening to this one song, "Pina Colada," by Simon and Garfunkel. I really like that song, they play a little snippit of it in Shrek, when Lord Farquaad chooses bachelorette # 3, and some other movies too...but anyway, it has one of those really happy sounding sounds. It's funny though how it's such a happy-go-lucky type of song, cuz when you listen to the lyrics, it kinda sucks. It's about a couple, the guy's singing by the way, and he talks about how things are so boring w/ his girlfriend so he reads a personal ad and finds one that he likes and writes back. So they meet up, and lo and behold, it's HIS GIRLFRIEND!!! You don't find that out til the last verse and things are all happy again afterwards...but duuude...let's look at the bigger picture here. BOTH of these people had the intentions of CHEATING on their significant others...and just because they met up w/ each other made it all okay? Hmmm...something's wrong w/ this picture... Funny how sometimes one doesn't know exactly what's happening in the song that he/she likes...one just listens blissfully and grooves to the music. Another example is one by Good Charlotte, the title eludes me right now, but yeah, crazy...

Celebration
Today, op, I stand corrected, yesterday, was mom's b-day. I can hardly believe it myself, but she turned 61. I swear she looks as though she were only 50 or something...I only hope to maintain my youth as well as she does when I get that old. Well, I bought her some videos she wanted, "Singing in the Rain" and "Westside Story," and me and Jos got her this manicure/pedicure thingy too...hopefully she liked them. We spent most of the day hanging out at the house while cousins and relatives stopped by to send their warm wishes. Good food and good company, a hard combination to beat. So Happy B-day mom!!! Love ya!

Utter Disappointment
Damn, I found out earlier today that my friends and I won't be able to see the midnight showing of Matrix Reloaded at the Bridge on opening night, due to the fact that there are no more available tickets. Me and Ai have been like 2 steps behind on all this Bridge excitement. We wanted to set up X2 at the bridge, but like 2 nights before, ha ha ha, and now Matrix, only a week ahead! I shuold've remembered that when I set up LOTR a while back, that was like at least 2 weeks ahead, I think. Man, why didn't we think of this sooner? That's what we get for being procrastinators I guess. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, some of the time. Dangit...well, we'll figure it out somehow, we WILL see it!

Boy in the Hood
Verwin pointed out to me recently that there were a lot of cops in my general neighborhood. And after he told me that, I swear I've seen a squad car almost everyday on my street. I guess I never realized it before. There ARE a lot of cops around here. So does that mean my neighborhood is bad? I don't know, to me, it's just home...where I've lived since I was in like the fourth grade. But I guess it wasn't your average neighborhood, well compared to those of my friends in HS and elementary. You could say we lived in the hood. Some crazy weird things happened, most I don't even remember. But I do remember some of my friends mom's getting scared when they had to drop me home, they would roll up the windows and lock the doors. Actually, I used to be pretty embarassed about that for a bit, but hey, it was my home. A lot of things have changed since those days though, but I guess there's still a lot of activity? Tonight, I swear there was a helicopter, aka ghetto bird hovering so close that our house was shaking everytime it circled around. It was kinda annoying and lasted for like 25 minutes. Man, I wonder what they were doin? I can't wait til we're "South Los Angeles." Ha ha ha.

Technology
A friend of mine was telling me how great technology was and how much she loved it. We were in complete accord...and then I thought about for a while. Man, what if there were like some worldwide blackout, or like some bigtime electrical shortage or something? What would happen? Wow, that would reak havoc around the world. I mean this would be worse than that whole Y2K scare crap, cuz systems would just be shut down and non-operational. Man, taht would be quite a site. It would be spectacular, in a chaotic, I probably wouldn't wanna be a part of it kinda way, but a very interesting thing event it would be. Aside from all the bank stuff or money issues and defense issues, let's say there was some sort of backup for all those, how would each person handle it? No TV no computer, heaven forbid, no Instant messengers and no Blogs!!! Cell phones wouldn't work anymroe cuz they run on electricity...so would regular phone lines work then? But then no one would no anyone's phone numbers because they either 1) Store their numbers on their cell phones(which, remember are not working) or 2) ONLY store cell phone numbers...(refer to last comment). Kinda reminds me of the Cable Guy, when he falls in the dish and knocks it all out and people don't know what to do at first. Then they start reading and stuff...it's classic. I'd probably just read til the lights came back on, or play board games w/ my friends...have REAL chat rooms...ha ha ha But I'm glad such is not the case, or else I wouldn't have been able to tape Smallville tonight, nor would I be writing this wonderfully unintelligible entry. Good gosh that episode was freaky as heck, but heck yeah for OTHER things that happened in that episode. Man, I love Lana Lang...I wish she was my girlfriend. Hmmm, where was I?.....eh, nevermind...that's it...

"Anger is never without reason, but seldom a good one."
-Benjamin Franklin

I am a tire that needs to be rotated...

Weekend Antics
I saw X2 TWICE this weekend, I forgot to mention that the other day...well by that time I had only seen it once but already knew I was going to see it a second time. So I'm a geek...not as much of a geek as Aileen, who saw it 3x within the same time frame that I saw it in, but nonetheless, a geek. I loved it though, and given the opportunity, I probably would take up another chance to see it. Fight scenes, comic book heroes, hot chicks, what else could you want?

Yesterday, after sleeping in and going to church w/ mom in the morning, I spent the remainder of the day and part of THIS morning in Irvine. I finally got the chance to go to Interfaith last night and see Father Pat. Man, I miss listening to his sermons so much. They always hit home with me, and really make me feel a lot better. I wanted to actually sit down and talk to him for a while, but as usual, he is quite a busy man, so I guess I'll just have to e-mail him or call him sometime this week. But I do enjoy our conversations, because he'll tell you things even when you don't really wanna hear it...and that's hard to do sometimes. So he always provides me with a good perspective on thigns. It was really awesome getting the chance to go there again, cuz I even got to see a few close friends that I had not expected to see. Caren and I went running too, which was a good change of routine for me, since I usually run on the treadmill as there isn't a close place for me to be able to run w/o being afraid I'll get jacked or something. And to offset that workout, Chris, Caren, and I hit up Alejandro's(The old Alberto's) later that evening, ha ha ha. So much for the workout! At least I got to burn the calories I would later take in a few hours afterwards. So all in all, my lil one-day vacation to Irvine was good.

So here I am, back in front of my computer...and this is what I'm thinking about:

I remember writing something about wondering where all the flies and mosquitos and stuff go when it rains...but earlier I was thinking about the opposite. What about snails and slugs? They always come out when it rains, but where do they go when it's like Africa Hot outside? Or not even Africa hot, just dry, and not rainy? Cuz apparently, they like it moist(moist, he he he, one of my friends hates that word...a lot), so when it's dry outside, do they all just dry up? Or do they dig way down below, and just chill? But you never see anything like snail holes or anythign like that. Or when you dig up earth, you don't uncover big nests of snails, do you? Hmmm...let's see, now if I were a snail, what would I do? I guess, I'd look for like a leaky outside faucet or something, like where the hose is connected and dig my way under there...that way, I could stay nice and moist...other than that, I think I'd just be worried trying to avoid someone stepping on me while on my way to my hideout. Crushed snails....BLECH.

"A person is not measured by knowledge, but by action."

I am a room-temperature jack and coke...

Insomnia
I hate not being able to sleep...Look at the freakin time! I just got back about an hour ago from Bar Copa and then Norms afterwards for Christine's b-day w/ the guys...it was a lot of fun. Happy B-day Christine!!! She was hella messed up, and she didn't even have that much to drink, though I can't validate that, but she was indeed messed up...she had to keep getting up from the table to go throw up in the women's restroom. Man, one should never underestimate the power of "pre-partying!!!" Hell yeah, we went ghetto style preparty buying some cokes from the liquor store and drinking about half of it and then refilling each bottle w/ some Jack and it was drinky drink time for us! I couldn't even finish that shit because it started to get warm and I couldn't handle the temperature of the drink, by the time I got to the very last swig, I couldn't take it in, for fear of a pre-party disaster. Needless to say we were a little bit on a head start by the time we got in, so we didn't have to get as many drinks...and like I said, it was fun...not many chances to be assertive and really talk to people, but the place was hella crowded and we did run into some old friends there...small world.

It rained tonight, and it's supposed to rain again tomorrow, I think. Rain, it's such an interesting thing. So many people don't like it, but I do...it really helps me sleep, and after the rain, the city(well in LA at least) always looks so refreshed. The air is crisp, the sky clear, and you can see for miles with no smog. It's just a beautiful site to see. Hmmm, I've always wondered something about rain and cold weather and stuff. What happens to all the flies and mosquitos and stuff during this type of weather. Because i know that I never see any of these pests when it's cold, only during summer-like weather. Do they all die and the ones we see after the cold weather goes away are new ones hatched from eggs and stuff? I know that they don't have very long lifespans but still...what about the summer when all of the sudden it'll rain for a day, do they just hide out and weather out the storm? Hmmm, I find that quite peculiar. If I was a fly or mosquito, I guess I'd hide out in a mailbox or something, but then wouldn't other insects, perhaps even my enemies be hanging out there too? I'd be in quite a predicament, thank God I'm not a fly or mosquito.

"Doors are made to be opened"

I am a car at quarter tank...

1st off, Correction to my last entry...my watch has a dial that goes from 1 to 31, not 30...makes more sense that way...that's better...

For goodness sakes
Before I get into other things, I must mention that I have a renewed hate for people who drive while on their cell phones. I'm not talking about people who use hands free apparati, but those who HOLD it to their ear. As I was driving home from lunch with a few friends(of which I shall mention after this vent session), and after merging onto the 10E from the 405 and about to exit, this absolute moron on a cell phone in the lane next to me tried to switch all of the sudden tried to switch into MY lane! Immediately depressed the horn and looked to my left, but there was a car there! Luckily, there was no vehicle in the lane immediately to my left, but there was a car right behind me and behind him...I kept holding onto the horn and the freakin punk ass mofo didn't even hear me honking at first! So the other 2 cars started honking and he finally notices, and I pull up to him and I'm goin crazy yelling at him saying get off your FUCKIN cell phone you stupid piece of SHIT! and a whole bunch of stuff. Needless to say, I blew my top off at him. He freaked out and just put down his cell phone and just kept on driving, looking away from my direction....GOODNESS MAN, that would've resulted in a serious accident all because that fuckin idiot wasn't paying any attention to what he was doing...DRIVING!!! When I first heard about how dangerous it was to drive while holding your phone, I kinda laughed it off and just forgot all about it. And I remember some of my friends telling me how they sometimes get distracted by people or something like that. I mean, driving's hard enough as it is as far as being aware of your surroundings, and the cell phone just hinders you that much more...okay, I'm done.

A for Effort
Jon Jon is one of the coolest people I know. He's been so busy lately w/ school and so whenever he gets the chance to, during his breaks, he makes a huge effort to hang out and catch up w/ his friends. I find that really admirable because I don't see many people make that much of an effort to hang out w/ their old friends. I mean, like one or two, or even three or four, yeah, but he's tried to see every single one of them in the past couple weeks...and that's really cool. I was thinking about this the other day, how I used to think that after college, I'd have more time to hang out w/ my friends. But it's just the opposite, it's actually HARDER to hang out. Everybody's workin, so it's not so easy to hang out late on a weeknight, and then everybody's moved, some into their own places, some back to where they were originally from, some, just elsewhere, so people are further away from each other. And the commonground, which was once school, is now no longer. It's funny cuz while IN school, I used to see it as a barrier keeping me from hanging out w/ my friends, cuz I was always locked up in computer labs, or in the shop or something like that. But actually, I would get to see them on campus and make the most of the 15-20 minutes I'd see them while walking to class or at cornerstone or something. Crazy how things change and how we all become Mr. and Miss and Mrs. Busy's. But it IS possible to keep in touch w/ all your friends, as long as the effort's there. So Kudos, Mr. Jon Jon...

"Actions are thought in motion"

I am a get out of jail free card...

Time time time
Chris, Aaron and I visited Cic tonight after Bible study and we got into a mini-conversation about watches...how it's always 10:10 on the face of the watch in any advertisement, and even on digital watches, as Cic informed us. Anyway, so I looked at my watch and I noticed the date thingy. It just has 1-30 on a rotating dial...so when there's only 30 days in the month, I'm supposed to switch it to 1 on what normally would be the 31st. I've only had this watch since December, as it was a Christmas present, but there have already been months where there were only 30 days, and imagine what that did to me in February! I would look at my watch and be like I swear I thought March 3rd was a few days ago...when it actually WAS! Freakin watches...ha ha ha

Damn, my mind's kinda empty right now...

"The best mind in which to approach any situation is an open mind"